LISTEN: Fears Raised Over South Downs Oil Drilling

Villagers are fighting an application to drill at Forestside in the South Downs National Park.

It was submitted by UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) and has sparked fear amongst residents living nearby the proposed site.

The well will use horizontal drilling to access oil bearing rock. The oil will then be extracted by under pressure chemicals being forced into the rock, which will push the oil out.

Michael Harbour lives in the area:

"Not enough pressure to call this fracking, but under pressure nevertheless.

"Our concerns are in this initial phase they have to drill through the water baring Aquifer in the chalk.

"UKOG say that their confident that their casings will be secure, but what if something goes wrong?"

Hear more from Michael below:

Campaigners believe that UKOG has not disclosed enough information regarding the chemicals to be used in the oil extraction process and that it is very unclear who would clean up if there were any accidental pollution incidents.

Local residents have formed a group Markwells Wood Watch and are seeking funds towards paying experts to help them.

They've been backed by parish councils, including Stoughton.

Chairman Andrew Elms said they objected to the plans at a meeting earlier this month:

"It's contrary to all the policies of the National Park, which is quiet enjoyment and this is far from that.

"The application has also provided dangerous precedence for future applications in national parks because this is the first one."

Villagers are concerned the chemicals used in the process will lead to contamination of the local areas water supply, which the company strongly denies.

Mr Elms said it's not worth the risk:

"UK Oil & Gas reckon it will be one tanker load a day, that represents a tanker load of about £9,500 a day.

"Is it really worth the risk of causing harm and health problems to over 300,000 homes for £9,500?"

Residents have until Friday, October 28th to pass comment on the application.

"UKOG claimed in a recent interview to be transparent, so why won't they tell us what chemicals they want to inject under our homes, villages and drinking water supply? And if they are as responsible as they have also claimed, why won't they commit to pay for the clean up of any water pollution that may occur as a result of their operations?

"We think local residents have a right to know more and express their concerns about potential problems that may arise from this scheme."

"I have heard scaremongering stories about how our planned activities might contaminate water supplies near Rowlands Castle and beyond to Chichester and Portsmouth. There has been the suggestion that UKOG’s planning submittal to South Downs National Park Authority was “too risky” by drilling below the chalk aquifer and that the planned use of an untested technique utilising dilute hydrochloric acid was a cause of major concern.

"Whilst I fully understand the concerns local people have about the protection of our precious chalk environment, the views reportedly expressed are in my view so scientifically unfounded and factually incorrect as to be highly misleading.

"We fully recognise the importance of the chalk aquifer as a drinking water source and, as a responsible, transparent and locally-based organisation, UKOG would not countenance any operation that would harm it. Indeed, UKOG’s first priority is to comply with and exceed, where possible, the stringent regulations set by the Environment Agency to protect the area."

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